The present invention relates to resource management, and more specifically, to constrained resource management services.
As industrialized societies continue to grow in an ever-changing global economy, more and more demands are placed on natural resources (e.g., water, petroleum, minerals, air). Over-consumption of these limited resources, as well as the effects this consumption has on the environment, has understandably become an increasing concern among various individuals, businesses, and organizations which, as a result, are seeking to discover new ways to better manage and preserve them.
One example of a constrained resource is electricity. In the United States, electrical power may be produced from natural resources by a coalition of providers via power plants and then distributed over one or more grids. Alternatively, power may be produced and distributed without a grid via, e.g., independent wind farms or solar cells. In a grid architecture, power from one grid may be freely transferred within the grid, but typically may only be transferred to another grid in limited amounts. As electric power cannot easily be stored, in order to meet demand different types of power plants contribute to the grid. Large, very efficient (and clean) power plants (e.g., nuclear power plants and large fossil-fuel power plants) are heavily relied upon and, therefore, may be operated around the clock. Due in part to their size, these power plants are not easily shut down and restarted. As a result, they are generally considered to be unsuitable for meeting intermittent demand peaks. Medium size power plants satisfy a portion of the nation's bulk energy demand and can be brought on-line in a reasonable amount of time to meet predictable, medium-term variation in power demand. Smaller power plants, such as hydroelectric plants and small size fossil fuel plants can be brought on-line quickly, and may be used to meet intermittent peaks in power demand. However, smaller fossil fuel power plants are typically less efficient and more polluting than larger power plants. Also, energy produced by small power plants is often sold through an auction (spot market) and can be on the order of 100 times more expensive than the energy produced by larger power plants. Finally, power plants vary in their method of electric power production. For example, some consume fossil fuels and create waste that may harm the environment, while other, so called “green” plants, use renewable energy such as solar, wind, or water to generate electricity.
In an effort to handle changes in demand, peaking power plants (also known as “peaker” plants) have been used. Peaker plants are power plants that generally run only when there is a high demand, known as peak demand, for electricity. The time that a peaker plant operates may be many hours a day or as little as a few hours per year, depending on the condition of the region's electrical grid. It is expensive to build an efficient power plant, so if a peaker plant is only going to be run for a short or highly variable time, it does not make economic sense to make it as efficient as a base load power plant. In addition, the equipment and fuels used in base load plants are often unsuitable for use in peaker plants because the fluctuating conditions would severely strain the equipment. For these reasons, nuclear, geothermal, waste-to-energy, coal, and biomass plants are rarely, if ever, operated as peaker plants. Peaker plants are generally gas turbines that burn natural gas. A few burn petroleum-derived liquids, such as diesel oil and jet fuel, but they are usually more expensive than natural gas, so their use is limited.
Presently, it is difficult for power providers to estimate the amount of power required for current, future and near future operations. As a result, less efficient peaker plants may be brought on-line, which may be more damaging to the environment than other power producing methodologies. Due to the above-mentioned costs and benefits of various types of power-producing plants, the challenges of producing power with minimal environmental and financial impact are heightened, particularly when factoring in the difficulties of forecasting consumer demand, which can drastically fluctuate based upon many unknown or unforeseen circumstances.
A need therefore exists to provide a way to manage the production and consumption of resources while minimizing its environmental and financial impact.